Monday, August 10, 2009

Statistics on reaching the Lost.

In recent years, there have been several research studies hoping to discover what motivates church attendance.

Top 13 Reasons that Unchurched People Choose a Church
(research conducted by Ranier)

1. 90% - Pastor/Preaching
2. 88% - Doctrines
3. 49% - Friendliness of Members
4. 42% - Other Issues
5. 41% - Someone Church Witnessed to Me
6. 38% - Family Member
7. 37% - Sensed God’s Presence/Atmosphere of Church
8. 25% - Relationship Other than Family Member
9. 25% - Sunday School Class
10. 25% - Children’s/Youth Ministry
11. 12% - Other Groups/Ministries
12. 11% - Worship Style/Music
13. 7% - Location

The statistics speak for themselves. Overall, doctrine, the pastor and his preaching, and the friendliness and fellowship of the congregation are the most influential qualities. A lot can be said about personal witnessing to people.

What's your thoughts?

For Discussion:
What do you think are the top reasons why people stay or connect with a church?
I HAVE THE STATISTICS FOR THAT TOO.
Next time... You might be surprised!!!!

4 comments:

  1. I have been attending your church for six weeks or so. Your messages are always relevant to real life and your referrals to scripture are humble; displaying an awe of God that is inspiring. The church was closer to my new house than my old church and I am embarrassed to say that is why we first attended CJ. Then my daughter had an excellent time and felt very loved at Camp Crossfire. A couple of weeks ago you preached on the donkey jawbone and the message was so what I needed to hear that day. You appeared to feel like the congregation was not getting the significance of the message and that may be true because that sermon was for me! Thank you, your wife, CiGi and her mom for making my family feel so welcome.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ty, I've always thought that generally a person comes to a church for the first time through a personal invite. They decide to stay at the church because of the Pastor but ultimately call it their home because of the relationships built at the church.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Annonymous...thanks. Were human though. Ryan, personal invite is my favorite. So many reasons why that one is a proven.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The most interesting point I see is that 88% say doctrine yet one of the most ubiquitous trends in the modern day American church is either be non-denominational or to "hide" their denominational affiliations. Look at how many 1st Assembly, St. Paul Methodist, and 2nd Avenue Baptist churches have changed their names to the more nondescript "Faith, Grace, Abundant Life (or any other somewhat Biblical sounding name) Community Church". If doctrine matters, why aren't churches more likely to have truth in advertising?

    ReplyDelete